RIFT: The Rebuilt Assassin

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!

Welcome to the Assassin page! This page was created to showcase the concept discussed in the RIFT: Rebuilding the Soul Trees post, which, as the title of the post suggests, involves rebuilding the Soul Tree feature from RIFT. The subject for this particular mock-up is the Assassin, a Rogue soul that uses deception and poisoned weapons to deal with their foes. The following is a breakdown of the various abilities, talents, and traits that may be present for the redesigned Assassin soul. For regular RIFT players, expect this version of the Assassin soul to be significantly different from you know.

The Rebuilt Assassin

In order to create the rebuilt Assassin, the Assassin soul tree was used to determine what a character would be capable of in combat. I learned the Assassin has a little bit of everything; burst damage, sustained damage, a variety of crowd control, and a mixture of physical and elemental damage. However, the Assassin can do all of these things with very little interaction between the abilities in its kit. Putting points into the soul tree doesn’t change this very much, and this can also be said when the soul is maxed out. My goal for this mock-up redesign was to add more interaction where I could, and create fun options in the talents.

Assassin Abilities (Roots)

In this section, you will find the Assassin’s full list of root abilities. Several abilities from the original Assassin have either been moved to another section, removed entirely, merged into another ability, or redesigned to serve another purpose. However, many of the abilities remain the same, but may contain some tweaks to make them more interesting. Enjoy perusing through this list and seeing how the rebuilt Assassin differs from the original.

Stealth (4 Points)
Self Buff, Instant, 10 sec cooldown
The Rogue enters stealth for up to 30 seconds, or until dealing or receiving damage. While stealthed, movement speed is reduced by 30%. Cannot be used in combat.

Viper Fangs (60 Points)
1 to 5 Combo Points, Melee Range, Instant, 15 sec cooldownFinishing Move, Poison Attack. Plunge poison-tipped blades into an enemy, dealing massive water damage. Deals more damage and applies one additional stack of Lingering Poison per Combo Point spent.Legendary Version: When used at 5 Combo Points, Viper Fangs also resets the cooldown of Serpent Strike and grants a stack of Virulent Haste. Virulent Haste causes the next Serpent Strike to be free and to not incur a cooldown.

Assassin Talents (Branches)

In this section, you will find a list of talents for the rebuilt Assassin. The concept of the rebuilt branches is that players will unlock a new talent tier for every 5 points spent in the soul. Within each talent tier, players have two options and must select one. There are 12 choices to be made for a build, and hopefully they are interesting.

Note: There are some empty spaces here, especially in the early tiers. My goal for the early tiers is that they need to improve more broad aspects of the player’s playstyle so they can offer viable options for hybrid builds. Also, it is kind of difficult to come up with talents that don’t sound game breaking or go too far outside the theme of the Assassin.

Tier 1 Talents (5 Points)

Not yet implemented.

Not yet implemented.

Tier 2 Talents (10 Points)

Cloak and Dagger
(Passive) After using a From Stealth ability, your damage is increased by 10% and damage received is reduced by 10%. Lasts 10 seconds.

Serrated Blades
(Passive) Melee attacks have a 30% chance to apply a bleed to an enemy, dealing X bleed damage over 10 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times

Tier 3 Talents (15 Points)

Not yet implemented.

Not yet implemented.

Tier 4 Talents (20 Points)

Incapacitate
Melee Range, Instant
Bash an enemy over its head, incapacitating it for up to 45 seconds. Damage breaks the effect. This ability cannot be used on players, or while in combat. Affects 1 target. Requires Stealth. Does not break Stealth.

Physical Trauma
(Passive) Final Blow deals 30% more damage to enemies afflicted with Impale, and inflicts Physical Trauma upon an enemy for 6 seconds, increasing periodic damage received from the Rogue by 10%.

Malicious Venom
X Energy, 20 meter range, Instant, 10 sec cooldownPoison Attack. Throw a poisoned dart at an enemy, dealing X water damage. Generates 1 Combo Point. The dart inflicts a malicious venom upon the enemy which deals X water damage every 2 seconds, applies a stack of Lingering Poison each time it deals damage, and deals 10% more damage per stack of Lingering Poison on the enemy. Lasts 10 sec.

Assassin Traits (Trunk?)

In this section, you will find the 12 passive traits players will earn as they spend points in the rebuilt Assassin soul. The minor traits consist of flat bonuses that improve the Assassin’s main group role — damage. The major traits improve the Assassin’s core gameplay and grant access to additional features.

Minor Traits

Improved Precision (5 Points)
Increases critical hit chance by 5%.

Physical Prowess (15 Points)
Increases physical damage by 10%.

Water Proficiency (25 Points)
Increases water damage by 10%.

Fleet of Foot (35 Points)
Increases movement speed by 10%.

Lingering Pain (45 Points)
Increases periodic damage by 10%.

More Power (55 Points)
Increases Attack Power by 10%.

Major Traits

Lingering Poisons (10 Points)
Each time one of your poison Weapon Enchantments or Poison Attacks deals damage to an enemy, you also apply a lingering poison that deals X water damage over 20 seconds. This effect can stack up to 20 times.

Advanced Flanking (20 Points)
While in Stealth, the first attack used is a guaranteed critical hit. Damage is increased by 10% while flanking a target.

Stealth Mastery (30 Points)
Stealth now lasts until it is cancelled, but it can still be broken by dealing or receiving damage. It is also more difficult to detect you while stealthing.

Poison Proficiency (40 Points)
Increases the chance to trigger your poison Weapon Enchantments by 20%, and increases the damage they deal by 20%.

Thread of Death (50 Points)
Ruthless Strike has a 50% chance to allow your next From Stealth ability to be used outside of Stealth and be a guaranteed critical hit. Critical hits double this chance.

Master of Poisons (60 Points)
Allows Lingering Poison to stack up to 30 times, and improves each of your poison Weapon Enchantments.
– Virulent Poison deals 30% more damage.
– Lethal Poison also increases periodic damage received from the Rogue by 10%.
– Enfeebling Poison also reduces healing received by 10%.

The Rebuilt Assassin FAQ

Wait a second. What kind of FAQ is this? There are no questions here! Oh, right. That is where you come in. If you have a question related to the Rebuilt Assassin, feel free to head to my Contact page and ask me directly.

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